Competitor Landscape
Usage
Use after analyzing 2+ competitors — you have individual profiles and need the comparative view. Also useful for preparing a board deck, investor update, or strategy doc that needs a market landscape section.
Process
Step 1: Gather Inputs
Ask the user for:
- Your product info — name, key features, pricing, differentiators
- Competitor data — for at least 2 competitors, provide for each:
- Name and URL
- Key features
- Pricing (model, tiers, price points)
- Target audience
- Positioning (their headline/value prop)
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Social proof signals (customer count, notable logos, review scores)
- Custom axes for positioning map (optional) — default: market presence vs. product breadth
If the user has previously run competitor-site-analysis or competitor-content-analysis, they can reference those outputs.
Step 2: Feature Comparison Matrix
Build a side-by-side feature comparison across all competitors and the user's product:
| Feature / Capability | Your Product | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [feature 1] | [status] | [status] | [status] | [status] |
| [feature 2] | [status] | [status] | [status] | [status] |
Status values: Full / Partial / Missing / Unknown
Include:
- Core features that define the category (everyone should have these)
- Differentiating features (only some competitors have)
- Your unique features (only you have — highlight these)
- Features competitors have that you don't (gaps to assess)
Sort rows by strategic importance, not alphabetically.
Step 3: Pricing Comparison
Build a pricing comparison table:
| Dimension | Your Product | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | ||||
| Free tier | ||||
| Entry price | ||||
| Mid-tier price | ||||
| Enterprise | ||||
| Value metric | ||||
| Annual discount | ||||
| Trial | ||||
| Key upgrade trigger |
Pricing signals to flag:
- Where you're significantly cheaper or more expensive than the market
- Competitors using per-seat pricing where value doesn't scale with headcount (vulnerability)
- Competitors with no free tier in a PLG market (acquisition barrier)
- Mismatches between pricing model and GTM motion
Step 4: Positioning Map
Plot all competitors + your product on a 2x2 positioning map.
Default axes: Market Presence (low → high) vs. Product Breadth (focused → broad)
Score each company 1-10 on both axes:
- Market presence — traffic volume, review count, brand recognition signals, funding stage
- Product breadth — number of features, integrations, use cases served
Alternative axis options (offer to the user):
- Customer satisfaction (from review scores) vs. Market share (from traffic)
- Price level (low → high) vs. Feature depth (basic → advanced)
- PLG friendliness (self-serve → sales-required) vs. Enterprise readiness (SMB → enterprise)
Present as a labeled quadrant:
High Market Presence | Established | Market Leaders Niche Players | ----------------------+---------------------- | Emerging | Growing Focused | Contenders | Low Market Presence Focused ←————— Product Breadth ——————→ Broad
Place each competitor and your product in the appropriate quadrant. Identify the gap: Where is there open space on the map? That's potential positioning territory.
Step 5: Aggregate SWOT
Synthesize across all competitors into a landscape-level view:
Strengths across competitors — what does the market generally do well? These are table stakes you must match.
Common weaknesses — what do multiple competitors struggle with? These are opportunities.
Industry opportunities — macro trends, technology shifts, or market gaps that no competitor has captured yet.
Industry threats — forces that affect everyone in this space (regulation, new entrants, platform risk, commoditization).
Step 6: Moat Landscape
Summarize the moat picture across all competitors:
| Moat | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network effects | ||||
| Switching costs | ||||
| Scale economies | ||||
| Brand recognition | ||||
| Regulatory / IP | ||||
| Distribution | ||||
| Data advantage |
Key insights:
- Moats that NO competitor has built = opportunity to build first-mover defensibility
- Moats that ALL competitors have = table stakes, not differentiators
- Your unique moats = lean into these in positioning
Step 7: Content Comparison (if data available)
If competitor data includes content strategy info, compare content approaches:
| Content Type | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | ||||
| Comparison pages | ||||
| Guides / pillars | ||||
| Glossary / programmatic | ||||
| Templates / tools | ||||
| Gated content |
If no content analysis data exists, skip this section and note it.
Step 8: Strategic Recommendations
Synthesize everything into actionable recommendations:
Where you win — your clearest competitive advantages based on feature gaps, pricing position, moat differences, and competitor weaknesses. Be specific.
Where you're vulnerable — honest assessment of where competitors are ahead. What would you need to invest in to close the gap?
Market gaps — opportunities no one is serving well, informed by:
- Empty space on the positioning map
- Features no competitor offers
- Audience segments being ignored
- Pricing models no one has tried
Positioning recommendation — based on the full landscape, where should you position? What's your angle? What should you NOT compete on?
Messaging landmines — claims competitors make that you should avoid competing on directly (because they're stronger there) or because they're becoming commoditized.
Output Format
# Competitive Landscape: [Product Name] **Date:** [current date] **Competitors:** [list] ## Feature Comparison [matrix from Step 2] ## Pricing Comparison [table from Step 3] ## Positioning Map [quadrant from Step 4] ## Aggregate SWOT [landscape-level SWOT from Step 5] ## Moat Landscape [moat comparison from Step 6] ## Content Comparison [content type coverage from Step 7, if available] ## Strategic Recommendations ### Where You Win [from Step 8] ### Where You're Vulnerable [from Step 8] ### Market Gaps [from Step 8] ### Positioning Recommendation [from Step 8] ### Messaging Landmines [from Step 8]
Rules
- Need at least 2 competitors for comparison. A landscape analysis with one competitor is just a profile.
- Never invent data — if information is missing for a competitor, note "data not available."
- Never present a positioning map without explaining why you chose the axes.
- Never make strategic recommendations without citing evidence from the data.
- If competitor data has inconsistent depth (one has full pricing, another doesn't), flag that comparison will be uneven.
- If the market appears highly fragmented (5+ direct competitors with no clear leader), note this.
- Be honest if the user's product appears to be in a weak position on the map — suggest what to improve.
- The positioning map is most valuable when you customize the axes to match your strategic question.
